Kara Blond is a museum and cultural arts leader with over 25 years of experience in museum administration, exhibition development, strategic planning, and community engagement. She is currently the Director of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and Smithsonian Affiliations (SITES | Affiliations), where she oversees traveling exhibitions, partnerships with museums and cultural organizations, and educational programs across the United States and beyond.

Before joining the Smithsonian, Blond was the Executive for Presidential Libraries at the National Archives and Records Administration, overseeing a network of 16 presidential archives and museums across the country. She also served as the executive director of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where she led the effort to envision, plan, fund and build a new museum in the nation’s capital, securing over $35 million in funding. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at the Smithsonian, including positions at the National Museum of Natural History and the National Zoo, developing major exhibitions and stewarding national partnerships.

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Blond holds a Master of Arts in Education: Learning, Design and Technology from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pennsylvania.